Nation's theme parks also having difficulty filling job openings

Published: Sunday, May 28, 2000

MIKE SCHNEIDERAssociated Press

ORLANDO, Fla. Walt Disney World is so desperate to find summer workers that it recently threw a recruiting party at one of its parks and even sent a search party to Puerto Rico and New York to find new hires.

Disney World isn't alone. Orlando's other large theme parks, Universal Orlando and SeaWorld Orlando, are having just as hard a time finding housekeepers, chefs, dancers, stunt people, lifeguards and ticket takers to fill positions in a job market with a 2.5 percent unemployment rate.

Disney World needs to hire 2,000 summer employees over the next two months. Universal, which currently employs 11,500 people, wants to hire more than 1,000 summer workers. And SeaWorld, with 3,000 workers, plans to hire 500 summer employees.

"We're always hiring," said Jerry Montgomery, Walt Disney World's vice president of human resources. "We're looking for people who like to work hard, are energetic and give great customer service."

Nowhere is the job shortage more critical than Walt Disney World. With four theme parks, 17 hotels and two nightlife complexes, it is the largest single-site employer in the nation with 55,000 employees.

About 2,000 prospective workers recently attended a recruiting party at Disney-MGM Studios.

Between munching on ice cream bars and watching performers on stilts, prospective workers were questioned by 100 interviewers.

Some auditioned to be Mickey Mouse and Cinderella.

The 500 workers Disney hired that night will go through Disney's orientation program and must pass a mandatory background check.

"I was hoping to be hired on the spot. I'm so happy," said Caroline Hood, 18, who landed a job as a ghoulish bellhop at Disney-MGM's Tower of Terror ride.

Disney's rivals are also using innovative ways to recruit workers.

Universal Orlando recently hired 100 workers from nearby retirement communities for its two theme parks and entertainment complex. It has also recruited at local high schools and established a relationship with Goodwill Industries, the charitable group, to recruit workers.

"There are lots of jobs here in central Florida, so there is a lot of competition in the job market right now," said Rick Larson, Universal's vice president of staffing and administration.

SeaWorld, which in July is opening a second park, Discovery Cove, is offering $50 to $150 to workers who recruit friends or relatives to fill positions. The park also plans to expand a college internship program which each year brings about 500 workers from Europe and the United States.

One way the theme parks could attract more workers is to raise the starting minimum wage, said Ben Ramirez, a Disney field representative for Local 362 of the Service Employees International Union. Starting minimum wage for Disney is $6.35 an hour. Universal starts its workers at $6.15 an hour. SeaWorld Orlando's starting hourly wage begins at $6.20 for merchandise salespeople and $6.45 for food service workers, an area where demand for help is great.

"This a company that can definitely afford to pump up the wages in central Florida, especially with the way the economy is going," Ramirez said of Disney. "Everything is going up but wages."

Some workers at Disney, the only unionized theme park in the area, are being forced to work mandatory overtime because of the worker shortage.

"People are working seven days straight," Ramirez said. "We're getting people who are burned out because they're working so much overtime."